Jails And Prisons

The Santa Ana City Council is requesting a $13.9-million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (The Times, March 7). This is to help build the new $107-million city jail. HUD funds are designed to provide housing and urban development funds. Well, I suppose jails are a form of housing. Then two days later, "O.C. Leaders Ask Assembly for Help to Rescue Schools" (March 9). Since children are the future of our nation, as well as Orange County, am I the only one who thinks schools should have priority over jails and prisons?

SACRAMENTO - Ruben Switzer wasn't happy with his accommodations at a well-known Los Angeles establishment, so he went online to vent. "Service sucks," he wrote. "Food sucks. " Switzer posted his thoughts on Yelp, the popular review website. But unlike many of his fellow armchair critics, he wasn't rating a restaurant or hotel. He was reviewing the Los Angeles County Jail, and he gave it one star. Typically, Yelp users are deciding where to go for dinner or stay on vacation.

Freed's series on the legal system in Los Angeles is an outstanding piece of journalism. At the same time, it is totally disheartening to those of us who risk our lives to protect the people of Los Angeles. What's the point in chasing an armed robber down a dark alley if he will be out on unsupervised probation in a few months? By their unwillingness to pay for an adequate number of police, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, jails and prisons, the people of Los Angeles are saying that they really don't care if they live in a jungle.

Eddie Lemon has an associate's degree from Taft College near Bakersfield. He's certified to work as a sheet metal operator and to drive a forklift. He has experience as a dishwasher and a cabinetmaker. He also has a criminal record. The 47-year-old Lemon believes that has made it all but impossible for him to find a job in one of the worst economies in decades. And as prisons are forced to reduce their inmate populations because of overcrowding and budget shortages, some economists fear that could lead many of them back to a life of crime.

What an inspiration Mimi Silbert is for not only believing that people can make profound changes in their lives, but for dedicating her life to proving it ("Serving Time," by J.R. Moehringer, Sept. 17). I visited the Delancey Street Foundation website and became even more impressed with the accomplishments of the more than 14,000 men and women who have successfully graduated from the program and are living independent and productive lives. Silbert has proven that structure, education, respect, encouragement, accountability and trust can reverse the effects of neglect, abuse, hatred, poverty and deprivation.

As Gov. Gray Davis considers another increase in the state's $5.2-billion prison budget, I urge him to visit the Los Angeles County Jail (Jan. 22). He should see the 2,500 inmates on psychiatric medications and an additional 100 in psychotic states, who listen to internal voices telling them to refuse medications, struggling with their illnesses. The jail's psychiatric hospital houses 50 more inmates. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million, has less than 250 psychiatric beds available to treat the uninsured, unincarcerated severely mentally ill. Continuing cutbacks have downsized the number of beds tenfold.

Mentally and emotionally ill people did not just disappear when we closed the hospitals and then the mental health clinics; they are there, plain to see, on the streets, and, to pay for dearly, in jails and prisons. Doing away with all "stress claims" in workers' compensation because a few crooks were stealing money from us all will cause irreparable harm to thousands of good, hard-working people who have legitimate stress claims and psychiatric complications of physical injuries.

Regarding "Facing Risks in Johannesburg" [Letters, Nov. 30]: My mother is very astute, and from her I picked up many pearls of wisdom. One adage she taught me was "clean up your own backyard." What this saying suggests is, before criticizing another's situation, critically examine your own. When reading comments like letter writer B. Chris Brewster's, the first thing that comes to mind is clean up your own backyard. If tourists from most of the world's industrialized nations were to employ his calculus when making travel plans, the travel and tourism sector of the U.S. economy would crumble.

For people with schizophrenia, it is the best and worst of times. Science confirms that schizophrenia is a brain disorder. It is not a "moral flaw" as commonly believed. Nor is it a "normal response" to a "dysfunctional family" or a "mad society" as postulated by the psychiatric community. Traces of these old, stigmatizing ideas are still around, but to a much lesser degree. More has been learned about the brain in the last five to seven years than in the whole of history. New medications with fewer side effects are available for treatment, and additional ones continue to come on line.

Inmates call Ron Osorio "West Hollywood" because the words are printed on the cream-colored cloth bag he carries inside Men's Central Jail each Friday. The bag is filled with 300 Lifestyle condoms. Osorio, who works for the nonprofit Center for Health Justice, has been visiting the jail almost weekly since 2001, when Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca approved a small but groundbreaking program that allowed the health group to pass out prophylactics to inmates in a segregated unit for gay men.

Inmates call Ron Osorio "West Hollywood" because the words are printed on the cream-colored cloth bag he carries inside Men's Central Jail each Friday. The bag is filled with 300 Lifestyle condoms. Osorio, who works for the nonprofit Center for Health Justice, has been visiting the jail almost weekly since 2001, when Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca approved a small but groundbreaking program that allowed the health group to pass out prophylactics to inmates in a segregated unit for gay men.

What an inspiration Mimi Silbert is for not only believing that people can make profound changes in their lives, but for dedicating her life to proving it ("Serving Time," by J.R. Moehringer, Sept. 17). I visited the Delancey Street Foundation website and became even more impressed with the accomplishments of the more than 14,000 men and women who have successfully graduated from the program and are living independent and productive lives. Silbert has proven that structure, education, respect, encouragement, accountability and trust can reverse the effects of neglect, abuse, hatred, poverty and deprivation.

Regarding "Facing Risks in Johannesburg" [Letters, Nov. 30]: My mother is very astute, and from her I picked up many pearls of wisdom. One adage she taught me was "clean up your own backyard." What this saying suggests is, before criticizing another's situation, critically examine your own. When reading comments like letter writer B. Chris Brewster's, the first thing that comes to mind is clean up your own backyard. If tourists from most of the world's industrialized nations were to employ his calculus when making travel plans, the travel and tourism sector of the U.S. economy would crumble.

As Gov. Gray Davis considers another increase in the state's $5.2-billion prison budget, I urge him to visit the Los Angeles County Jail (Jan. 22). He should see the 2,500 inmates on psychiatric medications and an additional 100 in psychotic states, who listen to internal voices telling them to refuse medications, struggling with their illnesses. The jail's psychiatric hospital houses 50 more inmates. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County, with a population of 10 million, has less than 250 psychiatric beds available to treat the uninsured, unincarcerated severely mentally ill. Continuing cutbacks have downsized the number of beds tenfold.

For people with schizophrenia, it is the best and worst of times. Science confirms that schizophrenia is a brain disorder. It is not a "moral flaw" as commonly believed. Nor is it a "normal response" to a "dysfunctional family" or a "mad society" as postulated by the psychiatric community. Traces of these old, stigmatizing ideas are still around, but to a much lesser degree. More has been learned about the brain in the last five to seven years than in the whole of history. New medications with fewer side effects are available for treatment, and additional ones continue to come on line.

Re "Breakdown Behind Bars," series, May 19-21: It is a horror story that we all knew was coming. Violent criminals walking out of jail in days and returning to terrorize and kill their victims. Drunk drivers with a dozen convictions laughing at justice, just waiting to maim and cripple without a second thought. The May 20 article says, "The key to easing the problem . . . is additional jail beds." Wrong. The key is legalizing victimless crimes. Judge Veronica Simmons McBeth was amazed that the wife-beater and prostitute were on the street before she got off the bench.

Regarding the May 7 commentary, God save us from the self-appointed lobbyists for the criminal subculture. Like Ellen Geis, the author of the commentary "More Efficient Use of Jails Needed" (May 7), they use any and all issues to argue for reduced penalties for criminals. Now they have the audacity to argue that it is up to the individual citizen to protect himself . . . they claim that government has no responsibility. Well, I assert that the government does have such a responsibility, and, as a law-abiding citizen, I want to see all violent criminals (and most of the others)

The new Twin Towers jail in downtown L.A. is jocund reality ("L.A. Needs New Jail Now--and Wilson Holds the Key," editorial, April 10). It should be a valid concern for all of us that within the next generation or two, the county will be unable to build enough jails to accommodate the new wave of offenders. Intervention, diversion and education programs are deplorably underfunded. When funds do happen to find their way into these programs, directors and staff utilize them playing "catch-up."

The new Twin Towers jail in downtown L.A. is jocund reality ("L.A. Needs New Jail Now--and Wilson Holds the Key," editorial, April 10). It should be a valid concern for all of us that within the next generation or two, the county will be unable to build enough jails to accommodate the new wave of offenders. Intervention, diversion and education programs are deplorably underfunded. When funds do happen to find their way into these programs, directors and staff utilize them playing "catch-up."

The Santa Ana City Council is requesting a $13.9-million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (The Times, March 7). This is to help build the new $107-million city jail. HUD funds are designed to provide housing and urban development funds. Well, I suppose jails are a form of housing. Then two days later, "O.C. Leaders Ask Assembly for Help to Rescue Schools" (March 9). Since children are the future of our nation, as well as Orange County, am I the only one who thinks schools should have priority over jails and prisons?